Karnataka PG medical entrance test scam kingpin arrested

Updated on: Friday, October 28, 2011

The suspected kingpin of the Karnataka post-graduate medical entrance test scam Vinayak Prasanna was arrested for allegedly violating anticipatory bail conditions set by the high court.

Bellary Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Justice M D Kulkarni sent Prasanna, an Assistant Professor at Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), to 14 days judicial custody after he surrendered before him at his residence at 7 AM.

As a part of anticipatory bail, Prasanna was required to cooperate with CID police for investigations, but he absconded, IGP (CID) N S Megharik said.

The police also have not received the high court order granting anticipatory bail to Prasanna, he said.

The scam came to light when some candidates had complained about alleged malpractices in conduct of the recent exam after results showed the 11 top ranks were bagged by those who had appeared at VIMS' centre.

Seven doctors and 10 students were arrested last week for their alleged involvement in the scam.

Prasanna had been allegedly indulging in the fraud for the past three years with the connivance of the staff of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and had helped many candidates secure ranks in the PGET exam, he said.

Prasanna, aided by accomplices at VIMS, managed to become an invigilator in the hall where candidates who had approached him took the exam, Megharik said.

Prasanna used to allegedly demand about 50 per cent of the amount charged by medical colleges to give seats from management quota in the required subject, Megharik said.

He used to allegedly prepare key answers after opening the sealed packet of answer sheets, he said.

The question papers were photographed with a digital camera and printouts were given to experts to prepare key answers. These were then distributed to the arrested candidates, he said.

Yesterday, VIMS suspended three doctors arrested in connection with the alleged PGMET malpractices. The doctors suspended were Bharathi, Dhananjay and Firdous Sultana.

Karnataka PG medical entrance test scam kingpin arrested

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